The New Dynamics AX is a big change from the previous releases. The majority of the changes are around the new web based user interface, the new way that you navigate around in the application and also new sets of tools that have come along for the ride.

For those of you that are familiar with the older user interfaces then you may have to learn a couple of new tricks to get around the system like the pro that you are, and for new users of the New Dynamics AX environments then you will probably want as many tips on all the cool things that you are hidden away within the application so that you can quickly become a power user of the system.

I have scoured all of the resources that I have to compile the most useful tips and tricks for the New Dynamics AX and that will be useful to everyone, regardless of if you are a novice to Dynamics AX just trying to get around in the application, or have worked with the previous versions of the system, and are just want to learn the nuances of the new user interface.

Filtering lists

The list pages are a great way for you to create simple reports directly from the application, but you probably don’t want to see all of the data. We have shown you how you can filter based off the main data, but you can also filter based on any of the fields that are shown on the form.

How it works…

To filter any of the fields, just click on the Down Arrow icon at the right end of the field heading to pull up the field options.

If you click on the filter criteria you will see that there are a number of different ways that you can filter including contains, begins with, etc.

Then type in the filter that you want to apply to the field.

And then click on the Apply button to apply the filter.

When you return back to the form you will see that the list page has been filtered to just show you the information that matches.

Want more?

If you liked this post and want to see more tips and tricks for the New Dynamics AX then I have compiled the 50 initial tips and tricks into a new guide for you all. If you want to get all of the tips and tricks in one place, then just follow the link: http://bit.ly/1mAzKf6

Also, if you are looking for more resources on Dynamics AX in general, then make sure you check out the Dynamics AX Companions site at www.dynamicsaxcompanions.com and also the Blind Squirrel Publishing site at www.blindsquirrelpublishing.com for more articles and books.

About the Author

Murray Fife is an Author of over 25 books on Microsoft Dynamics AX including the Bare Bones Configuration Guide series of over 15 books which step the user through the setup of initial Dynamics AX instance, then through the Financial modules and then through the configuration of the more specialized modules like production, service management, and project accounting. You can find all of his books on Amazon (www.amazon.com/author/murrayfife) and also even more on the BSP (www.blindsquirrelpublishing.com) site.

Murray is also the curator of the Dynamics AX Companions (www.dynamicsaxcompanions.com) site which he built from the ground up as a resource for all of the Dynamics AX community where you can find walkthroughs and blueprints that he created since first being introduced to the Dynamics AX product.

Throughout his 25+ years of experience in the software industry he has worked in many different roles during his career, including as a developer, an implementation consultant, a trainer and a demo guy within the partner channel which gives him a great understanding of the requirements for both customers and partner’s perspective.

For more information on Murray, here is his contact information:

Email:         mcf@blindsquirrelpublishing.com
Twitter:    @murrayfife
Facebook:    facebook.com/murraycfife
Google:        google.com/+murrayfife
LinkedIn:    linkedin.com/in/murrayfife
Blog:        atinkerersnotebook.com
Docs:        docs.com/mufife
Amazon:    amazon.com/author/murrayfife

Hey all. Time is running out to register for the upcoming Microsoft Dynamics Technical Conference… a little bird told me that the event is nearly sold out!

If you are wanting to know about the newest Microsoft Dynamics AX release (formerly known as ‘AX 7’) then this is the place to be. You can see the product in action as this year’s event will provide partners and users with an exclusive opportunity to gain deep technical knowledge in three short days. If you want to get a jump on the crowds, then don’t forget that I have the one and only book that’s available on AX 7 which you can pick up here: http://bit.ly/1JLxJHS

There are more than 130 Breakout Sessions, Instructor-led Labs, Ask the Experts panels, and Focus Rooms are planned which you can see in the Session Catalog You can filter or select “Show all sessions” to see the session content the Microsoft Dynamics AX R&D team has planned.

If you are wanting hands-on training then you’ll want to check out the
Deep Dive Workshops. This is scheduled after the Microsoft Dynamics Technical Conference, these intensive workshops will help you leverage your travel to Seattle to maximize your learning. Especially cool are the Microsoft Dynamics Retail Conference, Advanced Presales Workshop, and Budget Planning Workshop.

Don’t miss out!

Whether you’re new to the product or looking to enhance your knowledge, the Microsoft Dynamics Technical Conference provides the unique opportunity to connect and interact directly with the people that build Microsoft Dynamics AX. This is the technical learning opportunity of the year for the new release of Microsoft Dynamics AX.

As you all might have noticed, I blog a lot, and I think that blogging is something that everyone should do, especially if you are on the front lines of a product or technology and you are learning something before others are. There is no point in hoarding information away from others because in the end the knowledge will pass away with you and be lost to the world. Also, by blogging and sharing with others you will find that you will start to be recognized more as an expert in your field regardless of how big or small it may be.

What you might not know about this though is that it really doesn’t consume that much of my time. If you make blogging a part of your everyday life, then you will find that it integrates in almost naturally into everything that you do and really won’t take much more time than what you were doing in the past. And also if there is something that you find that you need to note down in a blog for yourself to remember, then chances are pretty high that there are others out there that would like to know the answer. At the very least, you will start to build your own library of knowledge that you can reference back to.

Previously I showed some of you though my first Author Workshop how to quickly and almost mechanically create your content for your blogs and recently I sat down and documented the second half of this process which is the actual blogging process and also all of the different social media channels that I use while I am publishing my blogs. If you want to get some insight into my processes and how maybe you all can take advantage of them then maybe you might want to pick up a copy.

Here is a link to the guide: http://bit.ly/1PDHrrK

I have broken this guide down into two sections. The first will show you how easy it is to publish traditional blogs through one of my favorite blogging tools – WordPress, and in the second part we will look at some alternative blogging channels that you may want to take a look at and also how you can repurpose your content to be published as presentations and other media types.

Hopefully this along with the exercises that we have included in the guide will get you motivated to start blogging and sharing with your community.

The New Dynamics AX is a big change from the previous releases. The majority of the changes are around the new web based user interface, the new way that you navigate around in the application and also new sets of tools that have come along for the ride.

For those of you that are familiar with the older user interfaces then you may have to learn a couple of new tricks to get around the system like the pro that you are, and for new users of the New Dynamics AX environments then you will probably want as many tips on all the cool things that you are hidden away within the application so that you can quickly become a power user of the system.

I have scoured all of the resources that I have to compile the most useful tips and tricks for the New Dynamics AX and that will be useful to everyone, regardless of if you are a novice to Dynamics AX just trying to get around in the application, or have worked with the previous versions of the system, and are just want to learn the nuances of the new user interface.

Moving fields on forms

Some fields may be more important to you than others, and sometimes you may want to move the fields around and show them in different orders.

How to do it…

To move a field, start off by right-mouse-clicking on the field heading that you want to move.

Then when the context menu is displayed, click on the Personalize field option.

This will open up the personalization options, and you can click on the Move left or Move right links to move it left or right on the page.

After you have moved the fields to where you want them to then press the ESC key to exit from the personalization.

When you return to the form you will see that the fields have been moved for you.

Want more?

If you liked this post and want to see more tips and tricks for the New Dynamics AX then I have compiled the 50 initial tips and tricks into a new guide for you all. If you want to get all of the tips and tricks in one place, then just follow the link: http://bit.ly/1mAzKf6

Also, if you are looking for more resources on Dynamics AX in general, then make sure you check out the Dynamics AX Companions site at www.dynamicsaxcompanions.com and also the Blind Squirrel Publishing site at www.blindsquirrelpublishing.com for more articles and books.

About the Author

Murray Fife is an Author of over 25 books on Microsoft Dynamics AX including the Bare Bones Configuration Guide series of over 15 books which step the user through the setup of initial Dynamics AX instance, then through the Financial modules and then through the configuration of the more specialized modules like production, service management, and project accounting. You can find all of his books on Amazon (www.amazon.com/author/murrayfife) and also even more on the BSP (www.blindsquirrelpublishing.com) site.

Murray is also the curator of the Dynamics AX Companions (www.dynamicsaxcompanions.com) site which he built from the ground up as a resource for all of the Dynamics AX community where you can find walkthroughs and blueprints that he created since first being introduced to the Dynamics AX product.

Throughout his 25+ years of experience in the software industry he has worked in many different roles during his career, including as a developer, an implementation consultant, a trainer and a demo guy within the partner channel which gives him a great understanding of the requirements for both customers and partner’s perspective.

For more information on Murray, here is his contact information:

Email:         mcf@blindsquirrelpublishing.com
Twitter:    @murrayfife
Facebook:    facebook.com/murraycfife
Google:        google.com/+murrayfife
LinkedIn:    linkedin.com/in/murrayfife
Blog:        atinkerersnotebook.com
Docs:        docs.com/mufife
Amazon:    amazon.com/author/murrayfife

The New Dynamics AX is a big change from the previous releases. The majority of the changes are around the new web based user interface, the new way that you navigate around in the application and also new sets of tools that have come along for the ride.

For those of you that are familiar with the older user interfaces then you may have to learn a couple of new tricks to get around the system like the pro that you are, and for new users of the New Dynamics AX environments then you will probably want as many tips on all the cool things that you are hidden away within the application so that you can quickly become a power user of the system.

I have scoured all of the resources that I have to compile the most useful tips and tricks for the New Dynamics AX and that will be useful to everyone, regardless of if you are a novice to Dynamics AX just trying to get around in the application, or have worked with the previous versions of the system, and are just want to learn the nuances of the new user interface.

Adding additional fields

Another personalization that you can perform is the adding of additional fields to the forms that may not already be on the form.

How to do it…

To do this, right-mouse-click on the form.

When the context menu item is displayed, click on the Personalize Grid option.

This will open up a personalization selector and you can then click on the Add a field link.

This will then open up a Add a Field dialog and all you need to do is check the additional fields that you want to show on the form.

After you have selected the fields, click on the Insert button.

When you return back to the form you will see that the fields have been added to the list page.

Want more?

If you liked this post and want to see more tips and tricks for the New Dynamics AX then I have compiled the 50 initial tips and tricks into a new guide for you all. If you want to get all of the tips and tricks in one place, then just follow the link: http://bit.ly/1mAzKf6

Also, if you are looking for more resources on Dynamics AX in general, then make sure you check out the Dynamics AX Companions site at www.dynamicsaxcompanions.com and also the Blind Squirrel Publishing site at www.blindsquirrelpublishing.com for more articles and books.

About the Author

Murray Fife is an Author of over 25 books on Microsoft Dynamics AX including the Bare Bones Configuration Guide series of over 15 books which step the user through the setup of initial Dynamics AX instance, then through the Financial modules and then through the configuration of the more specialized modules like production, service management, and project accounting. You can find all of his books on Amazon (www.amazon.com/author/murrayfife) and also even more on the BSP (www.blindsquirrelpublishing.com) site.

Murray is also the curator of the Dynamics AX Companions (www.dynamicsaxcompanions.com) site which he built from the ground up as a resource for all of the Dynamics AX community where you can find walkthroughs and blueprints that he created since first being introduced to the Dynamics AX product.

Throughout his 25+ years of experience in the software industry he has worked in many different roles during his career, including as a developer, an implementation consultant, a trainer and a demo guy within the partner channel which gives him a great understanding of the requirements for both customers and partner’s perspective.

For more information on Murray, here is his contact information:

Email:         mcf@blindsquirrelpublishing.com
Twitter:    @murrayfife
Facebook:    facebook.com/murraycfife
Google:        google.com/+murrayfife
LinkedIn:    linkedin.com/in/murrayfife
Blog:        atinkerersnotebook.com
Docs:        docs.com/mufife
Amazon:    amazon.com/author/murrayfife

Writing walkthrough guides is easy. It’s the formatting of the content that will take you forever to do, especially of you are wanting to repurpose the content into other formats like scripts, blog posts, summaries and even books. And if you want to make a change to a guide, or correct mistakes then that can take just as much time because you might break some of the formatting, or pagination, or you may miss one of the formats. And if you wanted to have specific page breaks, formatting requirements or different page sizes for different versions then it just doubles or triples the work.

Some people may have lackeys or interns that they can give this job to, but I wasn’t one of them, and have literally spent weekends formatting books and transferring images one by one into Word so that I can publish document or create detailed blog post series.

One day it became too much and I decided that I had to stop the insanity and find a better way. Because I capture all of my walkthroughs in PowerPoint – just because it makes everything look consistent and tidy – I looked into how I could automate the process and have it do all of the work for me. I blew the dust off my copy of Visual Studio and created Author Tools for PowerPoint.

These tools automate a lot of the leg work that I used to do manually by using PowerPoint as a repository for all of the walkthrough details and then uses pre-defined word templates as a basis which it then transfers all of the images and text automatically and also formats all of the walkthroughs in a number of different ways based on how you are wanting the information to be consumed. For example, if you are building a book then you may want headings on pages, but if you are publishing it as a blog then you probably don’t.

This reduces the time to format a 400+ page book from 8+ hours and tens of thousands of repetitive keystrokes to probably about half an hour and a single click.

In this walkthrough (which is created with Author Tools for PowerPoint) I will show some of the setup and also how it works.

Creating Companion PowerPoints from Storyboards

If you are using the walkthrough guides for training or for product overviews, then you may be wanting to create companion PowerPoint presentations to help keep everything on track. Although the Storyboard that we create within the Author Tools is a PowerPoint itself, it’s really not designed to be presented to anyone other than you since it’s a framework rather than a polished presentation.

Luckily we thought of that and there is a third component called Present within the Author Tools for PowerPoint that will publish out your storyboard in a more presentable manner, but rather than creating a Word document, it creates a PowerPoint for you based off any PowerPoint template that you have configured with the Author Tools building blocks.

Once you have a storyboard, all you need to do to create the companion PowerPoint is push a button.

How it works…

To do this, all you need to do is open up the Storyboard that you want to convert over into a PowerPoint presentation and the switch to the Present ribbon bar. There you will see a number of different options for publishing your Storyboard to PowerPoint.

If you click on the Template button, you will see all of the different templates that are stored within the AuthorTools/Templates folder for you to create your presentation based on.

To create the PowerPoint, just click on the Create Presentation button within the Create button group.

This will then go out and create the presentation for you.

Also note that although the text is not showing on the presentation itself, the narratives from the Storyboard is actually within the Notes section.

Including Steps in The PowerPoint Presentation

By default, the presentation that is created will be a summary presentation that just includes the Parts, Chapters and Sections for you to use more as an agenda. You can pick and choose from these options, and also you can include detail like the steps within the PowerPoint as well to create more of a self-guided PowerPoint Slideument.

How it works…

If you look on the Present ribbon bar you will see that each of the building blocks for the storyboard are listed there with the option to include them in the presentation.

To include the Steps in the presentation, just click on the Create Steps checkbox to enable it.

Then click on the Create Presentation button within the Create button group.

Now when the presentation gets created, you will see that all of the steps with the pictures have been included in the presentation.

Including Text Within the Slides

Although you don’t normally want to have all of the text from the storyboard within the presentation that you are creating – mainly because it turns the presentation into more of a document, sometimes it is nice to include it as a caption. Don’t fret, you can do this automatically.

How it works…

On any of the building blocks you may have noticed that there is an option to show the text within the slide itself.

To include the text from the steps into the slides, just check the Show Text flag within the Steps button group, and then click on the Create Presentation button.

Now when the presentation gets created, each of the steps within the PowerPoint will have the narrative beside it.

Creating a companion PowerPoint for your document is a great thing to do especially if you have a branded template. You can use the PowerPoint for training, as an overview to your walkthrough, and even as an additional output format to be published on sites like SlideShare. Not having to have to create them by hand is definitely a bonus.

More information…

If this has piqued your curiosity then you can test it out yourself, we have made the install kit available for download for free as the Student Edition.

Just download the kit, install it and then follow along with the examples that are in the book, and also use the samples that are included with the software to see the same examples on your system. You should be able to get it up and running pretty easily and maybe you will find that writing and publishing is not that hard at all.

If you want to grab it, then just follow this link: http://bit.ly/1ZEF5Uo

Also, if you are looking for more resources on then make sure you check out the Blind Squirrel Publishing site at www.blindsquirrelpublishing.com for more articles and books.

About the Author

Murray Fife is an Author of over 25 books which you can find all of his books on Amazon (www.amazon.com/author/murrayfife) and also even more on the BSP (www.blindsquirrelpublishing.com) site.

Throughout his 25+ years of experience in the software industry he has worked in many different roles during his career, including as a developer, an implementation consultant, a trainer and a demo guy within the partner channel which gives him a great understanding of the requirements for both customers and partner’s perspective.

For more information on Murray, here is his contact information:

Email:     mcf@blindsquirrelpublishing.com
Twitter:    @murrayfife
Facebook:    facebook.com/murraycfife
Google:    google.com/+murrayfife
LinkedIn:    linkedin.com/in/murrayfife
Blog:    atinkerersnotebook.com
Docs:    docs.com/mufife
Amazon:    amazon.com/author/murrayfife

The New Dynamics AX is a big change from the previous releases. The majority of the changes are around the new web based user interface, the new way that you navigate around in the application and also new sets of tools that have come along for the ride.

For those of you that are familiar with the older user interfaces then you may have to learn a couple of new tricks to get around the system like the pro that you are, and for new users of the New Dynamics AX environments then you will probably want as many tips on all the cool things that you are hidden away within the application so that you can quickly become a power user of the system.

I have scoured all of the resources that I have to compile the most useful tips and tricks for the New Dynamics AX and that will be useful to everyone, regardless of if you are a novice to Dynamics AX just trying to get around in the application, or have worked with the previous versions of the system, and are just want to learn the nuances of the new user interface.

Unhiding fields

If you have hidden a field, it is not gone forever. You can easily re-enable it so that you can reuse them again.

How to do it…

In order to re-enable the hidden fields you need to turn on the option that will allow you to see all of the hidden fields so that you can manipulate the personalization. To do this, click on the OPTIONS ribbon bar button.

When the Options ribbon bar is shown click on the Show hidden fields/columns link within the Personalize button group.

This will allow you to see the hidden fields.

Now you can right-mouse-click on the hidden fields header.

This will open up the options menu and then you can click on the Personalize Extension menu item.

This will open up the Personalization options for the form.

Now you can uncheck the Hide flag for the field.

Now the field will be unhidden.

Just as a side note, you may also want to click on the OPTIONS and then click on the Don’t show hidden fields/columns menu link.

This will return the view back to the original state.

Want more?

If you liked this post and want to see more tips and tricks for the New Dynamics AX then I have compiled the 50 initial tips and tricks into a new guide for you all. If you want to get all of the tips and tricks in one place, then just follow the link: http://bit.ly/1mAzKf6

Also, if you are looking for more resources on Dynamics AX in general, then make sure you check out the Dynamics AX Companions site at www.dynamicsaxcompanions.com and also the Blind Squirrel Publishing site at www.blindsquirrelpublishing.com for more articles and books.

About the Author

Murray Fife is an Author of over 25 books on Microsoft Dynamics AX including the Bare Bones Configuration Guide series of over 15 books which step the user through the setup of initial Dynamics AX instance, then through the Financial modules and then through the configuration of the more specialized modules like production, service management, and project accounting. You can find all of his books on Amazon (www.amazon.com/author/murrayfife) and also even more on the BSP (www.blindsquirrelpublishing.com) site.

Murray is also the curator of the Dynamics AX Companions (www.dynamicsaxcompanions.com) site which he built from the ground up as a resource for all of the Dynamics AX community where you can find walkthroughs and blueprints that he created since first being introduced to the Dynamics AX product.

Throughout his 25+ years of experience in the software industry he has worked in many different roles during his career, including as a developer, an implementation consultant, a trainer and a demo guy within the partner channel which gives him a great understanding of the requirements for both customers and partner’s perspective.

For more information on Murray, here is his contact information:

Email:         mcf@blindsquirrelpublishing.com
Twitter:    @murrayfife
Facebook:    facebook.com/murraycfife
Google:        google.com/+murrayfife
LinkedIn:    linkedin.com/in/murrayfife
Blog:        atinkerersnotebook.com
Docs:        docs.com/mufife
Amazon:    amazon.com/author/murrayfife

Last year I completed my Bare Bones Configuration Guide project and now it is time to start the process of revising the guides and making sure that they are up to date.

This weekend I started that process and have updated the first of the Bare Bones Configuration Guides and made it available to you all.

The Configuring a Training Environment for Dynamics AX 2012 guides you through the process of provisioning a new training environment for Dynamics AX within Azure and also shows you how you can create the blank training partition which will be used as the base learning environment for all of the other books in the series. The major change with this edition is that I have updated the instructions on how to provision the system within Azure and Lifecycle Services because it has changed so much over the year and a half since the original guide was created.

The topics that are covered within this guide are:

• Using Azure and Lifecycle Services to Host Your Dynamics AX Training System
  
• Creating A New Partition
  
• Configuring The System for The First Time
  

In addition to updating the content, I have taken the opportunity to offer the guide in two different formats.

The Traditional Walkthrough Guide:

The traditional walkthrough guides are formatted to give you a step by step guide with full screen illustrations of each of the steps to give you a visual guide as to where in the process you are. Each illustration is a great visual reference as to what you should be seeing on the screen and has a description of exactly what you need to do in order to complete the step. This is an ideal way for a novice user to step through the examples within guide.

The Thumbnail Guide:

The thumbnail guides are formatted to give you a step by step guide with thumbnail illustrations of each of the steps to give you a visual guide as to where in the process you are. Each thumbnail has a description of exactly what you need to do in order to complete the step, and is an ideal way for an experienced user to step through the examples.

Additionally, for those of you all that want to learn but can’t quite commits, then we will be publishing each of the chapters out individually so that you can grab a coup of the training in an al-la-carte method and just get what you need. For the experienced users this will allow you to skip the simple setup steps and then dive into the meat and potatoes of the setup.

As a bonus, to kick off the official release of the 2^nd Edition guides, and also to kick start the journey we have made the very first blueprint from the first configuration guide available for you for free – and I know you all like free. If you follow this guide it will show you how to configure a Dynamics AX 2012 virtual machine on Azure so that you can then (hopefully) move onto the next step and start configuring a blank partition.

Also this will allow you to get a sneak peek into how the guides are structured and also how easy it is to start learning how to do everything within Dynamics AX. All you need to do is click here and download the guide:

Using Lifecycle Services and Azure to Host Your Dynamics AX 2012 Training System: http://bit.ly/1UnbFDN

If you want to check out the full walkthrough or thumbnail guides, then here are the links for them as well:

Configuring A Training Environment for Dynamics AX 2012 – Walkthrough Guide:
http://bit.ly/1ZN6n5K

Configuring A Training Environment for Dynamics AX 2012 – Thumbnail Guide:
http://bit.ly/1RIs4Vc

I hope this is useful to everyone and that you all start learning Dynamics AX 2012 – then when the new release of Dynamics AX comes out you will be up to speed on that version as well because all of the business functionality from Dynamics AX 2012 applies to that version as well.

The New Dynamics AX is a big change from the previous releases. The majority of the changes are around the new web based user interface, the new way that you navigate around in the application and also new sets of tools that have come along for the ride.

For those of you that are familiar with the older user interfaces then you may have to learn a couple of new tricks to get around the system like the pro that you are, and for new users of the New Dynamics AX environments then you will probably want as many tips on all the cool things that you are hidden away within the application so that you can quickly become a power user of the system.

I have scoured all of the resources that I have to compile the most useful tips and tricks for the New Dynamics AX and that will be useful to everyone, regardless of if you are a novice to Dynamics AX just trying to get around in the application, or have worked with the previous versions of the system, and are just want to learn the nuances of the new user interface.

Hiding fields

The first type or personalization that you may want to do is to hide some of the extra fields that you are not interested in.

How to do it…

For example, if you are on the customers list page, you may not want to see the Extension field. To hide the field, start off by right-mouse-clicking on the field heading.

Then click on the Personalize Extension menu option.

This will open up the Personalization options for the field.

To hide the field, just check the Hide option for the field

Now the field is hidden.

Want more?

If you liked this post and want to see more tips and tricks for the New Dynamics AX then I have compiled the 50 initial tips and tricks into a new guide for you all. If you want to get all of the tips and tricks in one place, then just follow the link: http://bit.ly/1mAzKf6

Also, if you are looking for more resources on Dynamics AX in general, then make sure you check out the Dynamics AX Companions site at www.dynamicsaxcompanions.com and also the Blind Squirrel Publishing site at www.blindsquirrelpublishing.com for more articles and books.

About the Author

Murray Fife is an Author of over 25 books on Microsoft Dynamics AX including the Bare Bones Configuration Guide series of over 15 books which step the user through the setup of initial Dynamics AX instance, then through the Financial modules and then through the configuration of the more specialized modules like production, service management, and project accounting. You can find all of his books on Amazon (www.amazon.com/author/murrayfife) and also even more on the BSP (www.blindsquirrelpublishing.com) site.

Murray is also the curator of the Dynamics AX Companions (www.dynamicsaxcompanions.com) site which he built from the ground up as a resource for all of the Dynamics AX community where you can find walkthroughs and blueprints that he created since first being introduced to the Dynamics AX product.

Throughout his 25+ years of experience in the software industry he has worked in many different roles during his career, including as a developer, an implementation consultant, a trainer and a demo guy within the partner channel which gives him a great understanding of the requirements for both customers and partner’s perspective.

For more information on Murray, here is his contact information:

Email:         mcf@blindsquirrelpublishing.com
Twitter:    @murrayfife
Facebook:    facebook.com/murraycfife
Google:        google.com/+murrayfife
LinkedIn:    linkedin.com/in/murrayfife
Blog:        atinkerersnotebook.com
Docs:        docs.com/mufife
Amazon:    amazon.com/author/murrayfife

I just wanted to drop you all a note because you have downloaded the Author Tools for PowerPoint, and I wanted to give you all a little bit of an update on some of the enhancements that I made over the past week.

The first is that I have updated the Storyboard theme that you can use for designing your blogs and walkthroughs.  I got rid of all of the extra slides that weren’t needed and also made all of the slides consistent including adding all of the metadata to the slides, and also getting rid of the colors in favor of an icon to indicate what type of slide master it is.

When you look at the slide layouts then it looks a lot less gaudy – I have to admit.

I have made a number of bug fixes as well.  There were cases where if the slides did not have the write naming convention then the publishing process stopped.  That’s fixed.

Also if you hide a slide then it was still being added to the document.  That’s fixed.

A new feature that I added was the ability to add Boilerplate slides to the storyboard which will then print when you create documents like blog posts so that you can have a consistent introduction and summary when you print sections.  This was a big one for me and saves me so much time as I publish my blog posts.

Also, you may have noticed that the templates come from the Author Tools/Templates folder.  If you want to create any new templates for yourself then you can do that just by adding a new document template, there and then copying over the styles from the Normal.dotm file in that folder.  I did this with a Blog template within Word and have saved so much extra cutting and pasting.

Drop me a note and tell me your experiences with the tool, and if you have any bugs then report them to me right away and I will fix them for you and post and update.

PS. I already have one person using the tool to create their own walkthrough guide.  Are you going to be the next?